I still don't own Chuck. Not sure who does at this point. Maybe Subway.

Okay guys. I think that I've tried to write this chapter four times now. The darn mushy stuff keeps getting in the way. Let's see if Heather regrets putting off Sparky when he wanted to talk last night.

I'll be sure to post warnings on chapters that have violent or sexual situations. I'm going to keep this T – but I might dance on the edge for a bit.

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All Hell Breaks Loose

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It was a pretty tense scene. The team was waiting in a briefing room for the conference with the President to be over. He would only talk to the folks with an active security clearance - Senator Casey – and Chuck and Sarah.

Naturally, Alex and Kate were concerned about the political ramifications. They knew that they needed to get out in front of this story. If they didn't define Senator Casey's actions, her political enemies would. Kate was particularly antsy. Here she was stuck on an army base wearing fatigues while possibly the biggest political story of the past fifty years was breaking. She was trying to figure out a way to at least make herself available for a phone interview.

Alex knew that he had to settle her down. "Come on, Katie," he said as gently as he could. "Even if you could talk to a reporter – what would you tell them? Let's wait until Janice gets done ripping the President a new one. Then, we'll know how to play this."

But clearly, the most nervous one in the room was Heather. She couldn't shake the feeling of dread that was washing over her. She knew that she shouldn't have put off Sparky when he wanted to talk. Now, she wasn't sure if they would get the chance. Oh, she wasn't worried about anything changing. She knew that they loved each other. It's just that they had just gotten together tonight… And with the night that Heather had planned – well, it didn't seem fair.

Poor Elise didn't know which one to comfort most. So she sort of split her time between Kate and Heather.

But finally, they were back. The door hadn't closed all the way yet before Kate was all over her mom.

"Katie," Sarah said as soothingly as she could. "Relax. This is going to be okay."

"The President is very concerned about Shaw still being loose," Janice said. "His staff is in pure political damage control mode. They know that Shaw is his appointee and he will be held accountable politically for anything bad that he does. His only hope is that they can quickly capture, or even better, kill him – and wait for it to blow over. He is asking that John and I return to Washington tonight. He's promised us Secret Service protection. He wants to make sure that he can keep the nation from panicking. After all, the reports in the press are getting pretty wild. They are talking about a secret organization that was getting ready to execute a coup d'etat against the United States."

"Are we sure that's not what is happening?" Casey asked.

"It is what was happening," Chuck said. "After a fashion. It's just that they weren't ready yet. It probably would have taken a few more years to get in place. After all, a coup would have to be executed from the inside. They were slowly getting their people into positions of power. But to really execute a coup, they would need control of the military. That's where the real power is."

"That's why they were so panicked that Aunt Janice might become President," Kate whispered. "Her poll numbers with the military are off the charts."

"That's right," Sarah said. "They know that the military rank and file would never move against Janice as President – no matter what. There would be no conflict following orders from some General if the Commander in Chief was telling them something else. They would laugh at the General. Then they would gladly arrest him. They love Janice. Both her parents were members of the Joint Chiefs. And then they foolishly made Janice herself a famous war hero in the Senate campaign. They were panicked. Janice would be the worst possible choice to be President for them. They needed to stop her."

"So they were stuck," Chuck said. "They aren't ready to move now – but if Janice becomes President, it's likely to be for eight years. They knew that they couldn't stay secret for that long. As President, Janice would ask tough questions. They also know that she wouldn't tolerate not getting the right answers. They were counting on being able to work under the shadows for a while longer. That's why the current administration was perfect for them. They simply aren't interested in national defense."

"Once their identity was exposed," Janice said. "They didn't last very long. All of the leadership has already been picked up. All but one."

"What did you tell The President?" Alex asked. "How should we play this?"

"I told him the truth," Janice said. "That I would work with him to calm the nation. But that I'm not going to back away from the fact that we differ dramatically on most issues."

"It was actually more than that," Sarah said with a grin. "She called him a pussy."

"I did not," Janice said – with her own smile. "I would never disrespect the office like that. I just told him that the nation can't afford a President who acts like a pussy. I can't be held accountable for whatever inference he draws, can I? Katie, Alex, I don't think we should be afraid to say where we think that he's dropped the ball – and what we would do differently. But that the people can have confidence that the constitution will be upheld. And right now, he's the properly elected President. There is no evidence that he's done anything wrong or illegal – just that we have major differences with his policies. Differences that we plan on fully articulating over the course of the next two years."

Alex smiled. "That's a de-facto announcement that you're running for president," he said. "Can we be that open?"

"Absolutely," Janice said. "If I even had any questions about running, these events have ended them. We need to clean up this mess. Besides, it's the worse kept secret in the free world anyway. Katie, you can tell the press that they can expect a formal announcement as soon as this crisis is over. I'll need that draft of my announcement speech that you and Alex have been working on – ASAP."

Kate's eyes sparkled at the news. "Yes, ma'am," she said. "How soon can I get in front of a camera?"

Sarah smiled at her daughter. "That sort of leads us to our current situation," she said. "Shaw is still on the loose. Current intelligence estimates are that he has about thirty men who are still loyal to him. The President has agreed to give us seventy-two hours to find and capture or kill him. They are planting a cover story to help us draw him out."

"What happens after seventy-two hours?" Sparky asked.

Sarah sighed. "We'll be forced to go underground," she said. "The President will order us into a secure facility until Shaw is captured. And who knows how long that would take? Shaw is very experienced. He could evade capture for months – maybe longer. So The President is hoping that we can do his dirty work for him. Fortunately, he wants Shaw captured as much as we do."

"How can we do that?" Elise asked. "We don't know where he is."

"We don't know exactly," Chuck said with a grin. "But we do have a good idea generally. He left Ellie's address on his laptop. He is clearly going after her."

"Aunt Ellie," Sparky said. "That means…"

"Yup," Sarah said with a grin. "It's time for us to get some payback. We are going on the offensive, setting a trap, and we're going to kill that bastard. Big surprise, your dad already has the plan worked out. Casey and Janice are going back to Washington. The rest of the team… well, it's time to go home. We'll wait and brief you on the plan details as soon as we're in the air. But we're going to act normal. So, Katie, I think you're going to get your wish very, very soon – maybe yet tonight. It will just be from Senator Casey's L.A. office."

Heather couldn't keep the tears out of her eyes. "When are you leaving?" she asked in shock.

"Right now," Sarah said. "As soon as we can get to the airport. Colonel Blum is arranging for flights as we speak. Joe and Elise will stop by on their way and pick up Robbie. They will meet us at home base. Bryce will also meet us there."

Heather turned to Sparky. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I thought we would have more time. We should have talked when you wanted too. Call me as soon as you get there. We'll talk on the phone. Don't worry – it will work out."

But Sarah popped Heather's mistaken assumption like a balloon. "Heather," she said. "We only have the clothes we were wearing. You're the only one who has to actually pack anything. Kate and I will go help you. There is some need for urgency here – so let's hurry. The uniform of the day will be skirts and blouses – so you can leave your fatigues behind. I'm sorry. The shopping trip that I promised you and Kate will have to wait for a few days."

Heather felt like a hundred pound weight was just lifted off her chest. "I'm coming with you?" she asked.

"Of course," Sarah said with a grin. "You're part of the team, aren't you? You were officially assigned to my team until future notice. Those orders are still in effect. It would be a shame to waste all of that training."

Sarah watched as Heather processed the news – and the smile crept over her face. "I assume that you don't have an objection," Sarah asked – with her own grin.

"No, ma'am," Heather said. "Umm, I mean, Sarah."

Sarah could see that she was emotional – so she stepped up and hugged her. "If what I think happened tonight actually happened," she said so that only Heather could hear her. "How about a promotion? Like maybe to - Mom?"

Heather wrapped her arms around Sarah – and squeezed as tightly as she could. "Okay, Mom," she said. "Congratulations on your new promotion."

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Poor Bryce Bartowski. He was really getting used to this being-surrounded-by-girls-in-bikinis thing he had going. Naturally, at first he was too concerned about his family to truly enjoy it. But all that went away when he talked to Mom and found out that everyone was okay. Now all bets were off. And the best thing about it was that he got to tell himself that he was doing his Aunt Ellie a favor.

At first, Bryce couldn't figure out how to get his buddies back home to believe his good fortune. After all, he hadn't brought a camera. But he quickly discovered that wasn't a problem. After all, the girls all had cameras. And they were clearly in an unstated competition, one that had absolutely no rules, to see who could email Bryce the most provocative picture of him with his arm around her.

The only – well, problem, was his Aunt Ellie. Usually Aunt Ellie was really cool. But Mom must have talked to her. And now she obviously felt responsible for young Bryce. And that included a ten o'clock curfew. Not that it was a huge problem – most of the sixteen year old girls had their own curfews.

It was only about nine-thirty when Bryce saw his Aunt Ellie walk down to the pool. That in itself was unusual. She usually stayed in the room cuddled with Devon. So he walked over to her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Well," Ellie began. "I don't think so – but maybe you will. Your mom just called. We're going home."

Bryce was torn. He wanted to see his family again – but he also didn't want to leave paradise. And the prospect of breaking the bad news to his new harem – well, that wasn't going to be fun either. "When?" he asked.

Ellie smiled. "The first thing in the morning," she said. "We're catching the early flight. I'm sorry, sweetie. You'll have to say goodbye to your new friends. I'll give you an extra hour tonight. Maybe that's something that we won't tell your mom about, okay?"

"That would be great," Bryce said. "Aunt Ellie - thanks for being so cool this week. This could have been tense. I know that you and Uncle Devon are overdue for a vacation. I'm sorry that you got stuck with me. I know that you'd rather be alone."

"Come on, sweetie," Ellie said. "You have absolutely no reason to feel sorry – for anything. We didn't get stuck with you. We hardly ever get to see you anymore. I've missed you. I feel awful that I'm so busy – I've missed watching you grow into a man. It's actually been fun getting to know you again. You were great at giving Devon and me plenty of alone time. Not to mention the little fact that your being a hero saved our lives."

Bryce smiled. "Thanks," he said. "I had fun too."

Ellie put her hands on her hips. "You're wasting your last ninety minutes of being the only rooster in the henhouse," she said with a mock serious tone. "I'd suggest that you stop talking to me – and get over there and break some hearts."

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Sarah gathered her team together in the plane going back to L.A. Naturally, Casey and Janice were on a flight to Washington. Elise and Joe were also on another flight to pick up Robbie. Elise was as excited as anyone could ever remember seeing her. After all, it had been two weeks since she had seen her son.

"Come on guys," Sarah said, with more edge in her voice than she really meant. "This is important." She stopped talking and waited until Alex realized that she was trying to talk – and stopped talking himself – in mid-sentence. "Okay," she said as soon as she knew that she had everyone's attention. She also flashed a quick smile at Alex to let him know that she wasn't annoyed with him. "Here is our plan. We are pretty sure that Shaw is somewhere close to Ellie's place. So our objective is to make sure that he believes that we think we're safe. So we're going to act as if the threat is over. The President's people have leaked a story to the press that they believe that Shaw is still in Kentucky. They put Blum's base on full alert to look for him."

"But, Mom," Sparky said. "Isn't that dangerous? I mean, Shaw might attack."

"That's what we want," Sarah said. "It may look like we're going back to normal. But we won't be. Until this is over, every time one of us leaves home base, they are going to be secretly tailed by the rest of the team. We're going to set up a controlled set of situations where we're always in control. When he attacks, we'll have him. Tonight we'll start with Kate and Alex. They will go to Janice's headquarters and brief the press."

"Tonight?" Kate asked. "Won't it be too late?"

"We're gaining two hours flying West," Sarah said. "It won't be midnight yet. Trust me – the press is going nuts with this story. They will want to talk to you no matter what time it is. Chuck Junior and I will take up a position ready to intercept any attack and Chuck and Heather will take up a position on our flank. We'll wear earpieces and be in constant contact."

"Mom," Chuck Junior whined. "Why are you separating us? Heather and I just got together a few hours ago. We'd really like to be together."

"I'm sorry sweetie," Sarah said. "I'm really not anticipating any trouble tonight. But I'm also not willing to take any chances. You and Heather will have plenty of alone time. I promise. This is just too important. With Shaw out there, I can't have anyone's attention diverted by trying to neck or cop a quick feel."

Sparky's face turned red – but then he grinned. "Come on, Mom," he said with a smirk. "I understand how serious this is. I can keep my hands to myself. After all, I wouldn't want anything to happen – to Alex."

Kate took her now empty plastic soda glass and threw it at Sparky. "Thanks a lot," she said. "I take back being happy that you weren't captured tonight."

"Go ahead," Sparky said. "Take it back. You really didn't mean it anyway."

Sarah just shook her head as she watched the all too familiar scene of her two kids pretending to fight. But she knew exactly how to shut them up. So she turned to her son. "I know, sweetie," she said with her own grin. "Actually, I was talking about your dad."

Okay, so they really didn't shut up. Well, if groans count anyway. But they did stop fighting. At that point Sarah was willing to take her victories wherever she could find them.

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Daniel Shaw was sitting in the L.A. safe house watching news reports. He wasn't surprised by much. He always knew that it was only a matter of time before the story broke. Frankly, he was impressed that they were able to keep a lid on it for as long as they did. After all, too many people knew that there had been a major operation at Red Mountain. And a United States Senator going missing – well that would surely draw some attention.

Shaw also knew that their plans were finished. Everybody knew that they needed at least another year or two to be strong enough to take over. This whole plot was really stupid. There had to be another way to keep Janice Casey from becoming President. But it was far too late now. Once the leadership was forced to go public, they didn't last very long. Shaw had seen news alert after news alert of them being captured – some of them alive. He also knew that he, himself wasn't going to last very long. But that's okay. That was only one thing that Shaw still wanted to accomplish – revenge. And now, here he was, right at her doorstep.

Sarah Walker thought that she had won. The morons were still looking for him in the mountains of Kentucky. Now she would let her guard down. And that would be a fatal mistake – and he would be standing there waiting. She would be on her knees begging for mercy - soon…

But she wouldn't get any.

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